Diving bell spiders make their own SCUBA gear!

Before SCUBA (Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus), a device that lets divers breathe underwater was invented, divers used a special diving bell. This was a rigid chamber that traps air and lets them breathe while underwater. The diving bell spider lives in Europe and Asia and can be found from the British Isles to Japan. It is the only type of spider that can spend its entire life underwater, but it still needs to breathe air. It does so by building its diving bell!

The bell spider can build a web made from silk and hydrogel. This hydrogel allows it to trap air bubbles and carry them with it as it hunts for aquatic insects and crustaceans such as mosquito larvae and plankton.

The hair on the bell spider’s abdomen helps to trap air bubbles when it goes to the surface. It makes sheet webs from stiff, anchored threads and bundles of fine threads that cross each other. These webs are filled in with a hydrogel which keeps the bubble airtight. The dissolved oxygen (DO) in the water can pass through the webbing, and carbon dioxide waste can move out. As a result, this refreshes the oxygen, allowing the bell spider to use the bubble for a full day without the need to return to the surface!